There is a fine line between too much information and too little, which makes conducting interviews a bit like a game of Russian roulette. This is especially true when your subject doesn’t necessarily want to meet your questions half way. Luckily, with eccentric personalities and inflamed egos you’re likely to get something candid if you just let them take the reins. This edition of Adventures in YouTubin’ is dedicated to those journalists who had the good sense to bite off more than they could chew. Featured musicians include: Brad Cox, the Butthole Surfers, and more.
Brad Cox has never heard the term ‘camera shy’. His love of confrontational stage antics is only surpassed by his desire to make people as uncomfortable as possible. Well thank God for that. Skip to 5:00 minutes in to see what happens when he turns a question about Deerhunter’s first record into an opportunity to dig up a precious childhood moment. I would file this under ‘just enough information’.
Hey, we’re not all scholars. Dave Thomas of Pere Ubu understands that sometimes you gotta break it down in layman’s terms if you want people to really appreciate your point. Reflecting on the band’s career in 1989, he uses a simple prop to condense their entire philosophy into one easy lesson. You might want to take notes.
Thurston Moore is sort of like the Kevin Bacon of rock music, you can connect him to just about anybody. This segment is from the cutting room floor of the Minutemen documentary We Jam Econo. When asked about how he met the boys, Thurston instead decides to try out his Mike Watt impression. This video is worth watching for Thurston’s knowledge of Watt’s dietary regiment alone. “Seafood and Punk Rock”, sounds like a winning autobiography to me.
Saved the best for last. For this humble blogger, right here is the Holy Grail of pointless interviews. I don’t know what you expect to get out of The Butthole Surfers, one of music’s most playfully nihilistic children, but this is what happened when one dude tried to talk with them backstage. Looks like he got to the party a little late. I have no words that could do this video justice.
